News


!!! CWTS Fakes on eBay !!!

By John Ostendorf

The following update is provided to update more information to our membership in hopes that nobody gets stuck with some of the fake tokens that have appeared recently on eBay. Please be assured that a number of CWTS members are working on strategies to stop these. A number of these fakes appeared in late December, 2015 on eBay and were reported as fakes by several members. The listings disappeared shortly thereafter.

Please be aware that a large number of positive feedback responses for an eBay seller may not mean much. eBay names with large positive feedback numbers can be purchased on the internet.

Diligence is urged. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. So far, all of the fakes have been coming out of Europe. CWTs in Europe? at should be a big red ag right there. Ask more experienced members if unsure about bidding. Always a good bet - either by tokens already in a "slab" or buy from reputable dealers.

Sellers of fakes (all from Europe) are from Eastern European Countries

The newest is from Bulgaria. He very well may be one and the same as some of these other eBay seller names as shipped from Bulgaria even though he was listed as being from the Czech Republic.

Some of the fakes look to be of the same type of manufacture as earlier reported fakes. Thee Ripon, Wisconsin piece (WI-720A-1a) is particularly poorly made. Others seem to be of the same odd coloring, fuzzy details, and o then displaying little "bubbles" indicating that they may be cast. they may be copper-plated over pot metal or some similar metal.

Known fakes (attributions are as close as possible, these are fakes after all):

Patriotics:

Liberty head (5)/God Protect the Union (288)

Army and Navy/ The Federal Union (won't hazard a guess at attributing)
George Washington (108)/Our Union (201)

Our Country (232?)/Crossed Cannons (352?)

Capitol (233)/Army & Navy (312) 

Liberty (236)/Union (426)

Horrors of War (256)/Union For Ever (433)

Storecards:
ME-100A-2a (Torrey, Bangor)
MI-225K-3a (Broeg & Gerber, Detroit)
MI-225M-3a (Busch, Detroit)
MI-225AFa-7a (Gies, Detroit)
MI-225AM-2a (Hilterscheid, Detroit)
MI-225CC-3a (Sutherland, Detroit)
MI-450G-2a (Gleason, Hillsdale)
MI-525C-7a (Jackson, Jackson)
NJ-885A-2b (Titus, Trenton)
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For more information about the CWTS or to obtain membership information, email cwtpal@aol.com